Is the US Ready for War?: Michèle Flournoy for Opinion Has It

Michèle Flournoy discuss what it will take for America’s military to hold its own against an ascendant China. The PS Say More Newsletter | [View this message in a web browser]( [PS Say More]( In this week's Say More newsletter, we present the newest episode of our podcast, Opinion Has It. Every other week in Opinion Has It, host Elmira Bayrasli is joined by a leading expert to examine a critical and timely issue. [Michèle Flournoy]( In this episode, Elmira talks with Michèle Flournoy, a former US under secretary of defense for policy, about what it will take for America’s military to hold its own against an ascendant China. Listen now on [PS]( [Apple]( [Google]( [Soundcloud]( or [Spotify](. [PS Topics: Democracy and Its Enemies]( Is the US Ready for War? Elmira Bayrasli: Is the US military losing its competitive edge? When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the United States became the world’s only superpower. Archive Recording: Good evening. I’m Gene Randall in Washington. We are standing by for an Oval Office address by President Bush, as he contributes to a day even historians may have trouble describing. Archive Recording, President George H.W. Bush: This is a victory for democracy and freedom. It’s a victory for the moral force of our values. Every American can take pride in this victory. EB: With the world’s strongest military and largest economy, the US seemed to be untouchable. It became the leader and defender of global institutions and the world’s policeman. Archive Recording, President Barack Obama: In an uncertain world full of breathtaking change, the one constant is American leadership. EB: But great-power competition is making a comeback. Archive Recording: It’s definitely a new chapter in superpower relations. Archive Recording: China’s newfound strength is everywhere. Archive Recording: Are China and the United States headed for a new cold war? EB: Is the US military ready for this new reality? Not according to today’s guest, Michèle Flournoy. Hello, Michèle. Michèle Flournoy: Hey, how are you? EB: Good. I’m Elmira. Michèle is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and a co-founder and former CEO of the Center for a New American Security. From 2009 until 2012, she served as US under-secretary of defense for policy. She joins us from Washington, DC. Michelle, I want to start by looking at how the global conflict landscape is changing and what that means for US foreign and defense policy. And if we look going way back to 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, there wasn’t really a single military power that could really stand up to the United States. The end of the Cold War meant US foreign policy no longer had a single focal point. How did this change the US military’s mindset and priorities? MF: After the fall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, there really was the sense of the US being a sort of singular power. And as we started to look around, the challenges that the Pentagon was faced with at the time were from... Listen now on [PS]( [Apple]( [Google]( [Soundcloud]( or [Spotify](. [Read the podcast transcript]( Previously in Opinion Has It [Is India’s Democracy Dying?]( [Is India’s Democracy Dying?]( with [Milan Vaishnav]( Director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Despite major challenges, India’s multicultural democracy has thrived for more than 70 years. But can it survive Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist agenda? Listen now on [PS]( [Apple]( [Google]( [Soundcloud]( or [Spotify](. Or [read the transcript](. [Check out the Opinion Has It archive]( Previously in Say More [An Interview with Eric Posner]( [An Interview with Eric Posner]( [Eric Posner]( – a professor at the University of Chicago Law School – touts a Supreme Court reform he’d like to see, identifies Donald Trump’s American precursors, and urges law professors to get off Twitter. [Read now](. [Check out the Say More archive]( [PS Events: Back to Health]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( Project Syndicate publishes and provides, on a not-for-profit basis, original commentary by the world's leading thinkers to more than 500 media outlets in over 150 countries. This newsletter is a service of [Project Syndicate](. [Change your newsletter preferences](. Follow us on [Facebook]( [Twitter]( and [YouTube](. © Project Syndicate, all rights reserved. [Unsubscribe from all newsletters](.